Here's Your Box

Sometimes when you take on a project, it’s very easy to get thrown by all the prep work that can be involved. Take our bathroom for instance.

Just so there are no unpleasant surprises this weekend, when I fully intend to dive back into this recurring reno head first, I’m trying to get started in dealing with all of the minutia that can make a job on even the smallest of rooms seem endless. So, I broke out the boxes.

We have what are essentially two medicine cabinets in our tiny bath. One has a mirrored door. (The mirror to which has been absent lo these 11 months and very sorely missed. But I couldn’t see putting it back up only to take back it down the manillian times I’ve now started – and then stopped – working on the walls in there. So, down it has stayed.

The other is directly over the back of the commode. It has a small exposed shelf (which the mother dutifully and maniacally filled with knick knacks) beneath two doors which cover three shelves of storage space for drugs and beauty items. And, sans vanity (we have a pedestal sink), it is jammed full. Note: I found two small “towers,” each containing three tiny baskets, at Target some years back, that we had on either side of the sink, to alleviate some of this overcrowding. It worked. For a while.

Then Toby came – and stayed. His litter box and food dishes – along with a “sometimes” bed – all now live in the tiny bathroom. So, the towers were relegated to the linen closet. (That, however, is a post all its own!) But I digress …

I’ve decided that I am removing the larger cabinet to do a better job of stripping old wallpaper, repairing the wall and to make the actual job of putting in new wallpaper much easier. This means it has to be cleared out. And, I have to find a space for it (until it can be painted), a space in which to paint it and a space for it to dry once it is painted.

Clearing out those cabinets … that was my plan for last night. That’s not what happened.

Instead, I got out of the office late. I had stops to make on the way home. And once home, I had a variety of things to do. The chief task was dealing with Ladybird. Yesterday morning, her brake light on the dash winked at me. This happened a few more times as I gunned her toward town.

That winking light usually means that the brake fluid needs topping off. So, I bought some Dot 3 brake fluid. While I was at it, I bought some windshield cleaner. After dinner and before it got dark, I added these vital liquids. I also added some antifreeze and checked the oil while I was under the hood.

At home, we didn’t get the brief downpour that removed some of the heat from the air. No. It was hot and it stayed that way. By the time I got back in the house, after finishing with Ladybird and throwing a bit of water around in a lame attempt to cool things off, I was drenched. I no longer had the will or the energy to clear cabinets.

Instead, I gathered up the boxes and issued one to the mother specifically to put what she’d need out of said cabinets over the next several days. “Here’s your box,” I said as I laid a few other boxes to the side to do the bulk of the clearing.

But that would be for a different night.